ABOUT

“Student Built, Mentor Approved”

Established in 2014, Tribe Robotics FRC 4123, brings together professional mentors with enthusiastic and passionate students from St. John Bosco High School located in Bellflower, CA.  Our mission is to inspire students to explore, experience, and appreciate science, technology, engineering, math, and design through hands-on participation in FIRST® Robotics competitions (FRC).  Our motto “student built, mentor approved”  is exactly how our team operates:  it is up to the students to design and build our robot; our mentors are there to oversee and approve, not build.  

We view our team as another sport at SJB: a varsity “Sport of the Mind”.  Donald E. Bossi, FIRST® President, described robotics as a sport for the 21st century saying,  “The skills students can learn, including teamwork, collaboration, and problem-solving, are the same as those learned in other sports but unlike most sports, robotics provides all students – no matter their background or physical ability – the opportunity to become a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) professional.”

Robotics competition combines the thrill of a sport with the preciseness of science, math, and technology.  Under strict rules, limited resources, and a six-week time limit, our team is challenged to raise funds, perfect teamwork skills, and build and program a robot to perform stipulated tasks during competition.  We promote the concepts of FIRST® Robotics in all that we do.

Our team member’s experience is as close to “real world” engineering as a student can. Team members receive hands-on experience in areas of mechanical engineering, CAD design, programming, electrical engineering, project management, leadership, and strategic thinking skills as well as the business side of running a team: fundraising, inventory control, public relations, and finance. Team members will:

1- Work alongside professional mentors Build and compete with a robot of our own design

2- Build and compete with a robot of our own design

3- Learn and use sophisticated hardware and software

4- Develop design, project management, programming teamwork, leadership, and strategic thinking skills

Students who engage in FIRST® programs are three times more likely to show interest in STEM careers, and 89.6 of those who have competed with FIRST® are currently in a STEM field as a student or professional.  Former team members of Tribe Robotics currently attend the Naval Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of San Diego (USD), Gonzaga, University of Southern California (USC), UC Irvine, and CSU Long Beach.  Our team’s average GPA is 3.8/4.0.